The Devil's Embrace
by Senwich
Summary: When Deidara is ordered to find a new partner and Itachi and Kisame needs his help in finding the Kyuubi, Deidara finds himself falling for the one woman he vowed to kill for taking Sasori's life. DeiSaku
1. When it Began

**Senko:** I have decided to try out the DeiSaku pairing! ;) all thanks to MitsukiShiroi's wonderful fanfics, I have now come to like DeiSaku. The idea for this story came from my story "Fate is Inevitable." I have decided to discontinue that story because I wrote it all wrong and if I continued the story, it would not lead to ItaSaku at all; it would lead to DeiSaku. So I decided to discontinue the story and start a DeiSaku ;D

Special thanks to **alphadale** for beta-ing!

**Summary:** When Deidara is ordered to find a new partner and Itachi and Kisame needs his help in finding the Kyuubi, Deidara slowly finds himself falling forthe woman he vowed to kill for taking Sasori's life. DeiSaku

* * *

_'Italics'_ Inner Sakura and Sakura conversation 

"Quotes" Dialogue

Italics Emphasis, thoughts

**Disclaimer:** Do I _look_ like Kishimoto? No seriously, do I? o.O lol

* * *

**Chapter 1**

The warm rays of morning gently beat against his skin, and Deidara's cerulean eyes opened to greet the world. Still tired and sleepy, he struggled to pull himself up from the bed. It had been approximately a month since his mission to kidnap the Kazekage...and approximately a month since the loss of his partner, Sasori. His left arm had been crushed during that mission. He had a medic-nin inspect the injury and his left arm was healed only slightly. Now, he could still use his arm but he couldn't perform any sort of hard labor.

The leader of Akatsuki had given him half a year to find a new partner claiming that Deidara should have the right to choose the perfect companion, but Deidara strongly believed that the leader was simply too lazy to bother finding a collaborator for him. By the end of half a year, should Deidara not have a comrade, he would be expelled from Akatsuki. So far, a month had wasted away and still he had no luck in finding a suitable partner for him. There were many powerful ninjas, but none of them would willingly betray their village and join a group of S-class missing-nins.

Glancing at the window sill, his eyes spotted Sasori's jade ring. Sasori's jade ring, 'The Virgin' (1).

Deidara inwardly growled in frustration as he remembered the cause of this annoyance. No, it wasn't Sasori's death – it was the person who took Sasori's life. He couldn't deny that Sasori was someone important to him; they shared the same love for art and had been together through tough times. S-class missing-nins like Deidara were alone and despised, perhaps hated, so finding someone they could _almost_ call a friend was really something to treasure.

He vowed to himself to make Sasori's assailant pay.

He had heard that it was a female trained under the legendary Sannin Tsunade. He regretted not taking a closer examination of her when he first saw her. Now, her appearance was faint to him, therefore making it difficult for him to track her down. He couldn't simply head over to Konoha and begin killing off every female.

A knock on the inn's door broke him out of his reverie. "Come in, yeah," he muttered, already fully aware of the two people outside his door.

"Hey, Deidara," Kisame greeted, entering the room. Itachi silently followed behind him, closing the door once he was inside.

Deidara looked up at the two, struggling to dismiss the blurriness in his eyes. "Well, it sure is a surprise to see the two of you here, yeah. What is it you need?"

Kisame let out a burst of laughter. "Straight to the point, eh?"

"I'm a very busy person, Kisame, yeah."

Walking over to Deidara, Kisame and Itachi took a seat on the plain white bed. "Well, you see, Itachi and I need your assistance."

Deidara stared at the two, obviously giving them his full attention now. It wasn't every day that Kisame and _the _Uchiha, Itachi would ask for help. "Why should I help you, yeah? What's in it for me?"

"We heard from Leader that you have been assigned to find a new partner. Itachi and I can find a new companion for you."

"No," Deidara said bluntly. "I can find my own partner, yeah."

"You know you want our help, Deidara. We know you've brought a couple of suitable partners but Leader has disapproved of them. We know you don't like the idea of looking for a replacement for Sasori. And we know that Itachi is Leader's favorite and anyone, _anyone_, which Itachi recommends for Akatsuki will be considered immediately," Kisame grinned, "And what if helping us also helps you track down Sasori's killer?"

A hint of interest flashed in Deidara's eyes. "How will you do that, yeah?"

"How we do it is not something you should worry about. You know us; we don't lie. You help us, we help you."

"Fine. What do you want me to do, yeah?"

"Simple. Just befriend some of the Kyuubi's friends and get some information about thehim for us."

"_All_ of his friends, yeah? That might be too difficult."

"No. We only need the ones named Hyuuga, Hinata and Haruno, Sakura."

* * *

"Come on, Sakura!" 

"We wanna see, we wanna see!"

"Shut up! Stop rushing me!"

Ino, Hinata, and TenTen stood over Sakura's shoulder, looking in anticipation as Sakura broke apart the fortune cookie and took out the slip of paper. They had decided to spend some girl time together and went to a Chinese restaurant and received fortune cookies after dining. Sakura's fingers pulled the ends of the small slip of paper, straightening it out so she could read the words.

_Follow your heart. These words will prove helpful to you._

"What the hell," Sakura cursed. "This is it? Damn fortunes, I get the crappiest one. Follow your heart this and that! How come all of you had something about love and happiness in yours and I get…follow your _heart_? Ugh."

The other three girls burst out into laughter.

Ino stopped her laughter long enough to say, "You just have bad luck!"

_'Follow your heart, my ass'_ Inner Sakura screamed. '_If following our heart was what we should do-'_

_'Shut up. Don't you dare say it!'_ Sakura yelled back.

_'-we would be in Sound begging to work with Orochimaru so we can see Sasuke-kun again!'_ her inner self ignored her and finished her sentence.

_'You are one huge pain in the-'_ Sakura began.

"Hello? Sakura?" TenTen waved her right hand in front of Sakura's face.

"A-Are you okay?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah, Forehead girl, you've been spacing out for like _five_ minutes now," Ino exaggerated. "Well it was only a minute but, well, you know."

Sakura flashed a smile. "I'm okay!"

* * *

**Senko:** Well, whatcha think? Sorry it's short, but chapter one is always the introduction, right? This is the intro to the story! 

(1) I got the ring info from wikipedia when I looked up stuff about Deidara and Sasori. I'm not sure if Sasori's ring was jade but that's the only word related to color when they showed the info on his ring.


	2. Five years later

**Senko:** Hello everyone! I'm so uberly sorry about the late update! I was undergoing a major writer's block because I couldn't decide how I wanted Deidara and Sakura's relationship to be like. However, after coming across a great fanfic written in first person POV, I concluded how I would write the story! Hey, quality is better than quantity, right? ;D

**Important:** The "first" chapter of this story will now be the introduction, meaning that this chapter is the actual beginning.

Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! Your reviews mean so, so, SO much to me! Man, I didn't expect to receive 27 reviews for the first chapter. Also, DeiSaku doesn't seem to be a very popular pairing, so it was surprising to see this many people actually read it lol

Thanks to **bluflamez, Songstress of Victory, sillymail, Angel of Lament, Raeshi, Clouse, Silent Kunoichi aka. Fiona, ninjaxbunny, lily, red scorpion 666, Aurora Marija, huffpuff, blackXheart, XxShadow-Of-LiesxX, Marin M, ChaosBlossom, Hao'sAnjul, Angels-Ramen, Starwishes, Sakura's Hope, Siehorse, Lite1232,cherz, XXfirefoxXX,** and **BlackCatDahlia** for reviewing!

**Gambomaster:** YES! We do need for DeiSaku ficcies:D

**The Lost Vivendi: **Aww thanks! I try my best to think up of original or interesting ideas :P

**Chapter 1**

* * *

_CLICK_

The lights flickered on and restored color to the dark bedroom. Naruto exhaled deeply at the sight of Sakura's room. Everything was organized and had its place, unlike his home where things were scattered about everywhere.

It was just like how he remembered it to be.

Hinata stood behind him, twirling her index fingers to display her nervousness. She followed behind Naruto and entered the room. She could feel a rush of sadness wash over her as her body placed itself inside the cold bedroom. Sakura's scent was still there although the place lacked her authentic warmth and love.

It had been a few years since Sakura's disappearance. To say it happened so quickly and out of the blue would be a lie – the signs were there. It was simply that no one had expected for _her_ to up and leave like that.

Rumors had it that her generous and cheerful self was a disguise and that she had originally planned to betray the Leaf. The most believable one, though, was that her feelings for the Uchiha survivor were so strong that she had to leave and chase after him.

According to Ino, it began when Sakura met someone when she was fifteen. The so-called someone was a blond man with blue eyes. She had never thought that such a humorous, innocent and caring guy would turn out to be a monster, cruel and evil.

He was an anohadult and had barely moved into Kogakure. He knew ninja basics and his goal was to become an artist. In his spare time, he often made sculptures out of clay. She said he was like Naruto, funny yet caring, but he was slightly more mature. Ever since he came into Sakura's life, things had gotten from odd to odder and perhaps he had something to do with Sakura's disappearance. But chances that that was true were slim; she believed that Sasuke was the cause of Sakura's departure.

Ino remembered when she was assigned on a mission with Sakura and a few others to the Sound Country. Suddenly, the man appeared out of nowhere but he left soon. After discovering that Orochimaru had successfully taken over Sasuke, Sakura underwent depression. When they returned, the man was nowhere to be seen and Sakura spoke not a word of him ever. A few weeks later he returned but left again. That was when Sasuke was brought back to the Leaf (for some strange reason Orochimaru had been killed and Sasuke was the suspected murderer) but was locked up for interrogation. Sakura visited him everyday but left in tears. A week later, she disappeared.

So here Naruto and Hinata were, five years after Sakura's absence, investigating her abandoned room under Tsunade's order. Apparently, the missing-nin Deidara was rumored to have been seen with a pink-haired girl. Tsunade wanted them to check Sakura's place for any possible clue that might confirm this rumor. If they found anything proving this report positive, then Tsunade would send someone to track them down. Sakura's mother, a fragile and gentle woman, had left them to watch after and examine the house while she went out to purchase some groceries.

"There's nothing here," said Naruto, peeking under the bed. "Clean as always, that's our Sakura."

"Yes, always organized," Hinata commented, pulling open a drawer from the table beside the bed.

Naruto flopped down on the bed, indulging himself in the faint fragrance of Sakura. "This is pointless. Sakura-chan's a nice and smart girl – she would never walk off with a criminal. Don't you so, Hinata-chan?"

"Yes, she-" Hinata stopped abruptly.

Curious at her sudden pause, Naruto sat up on Sakura's bed. "Something wrong?"

Hinata lifted up in her hands what seemed to be an emerald ring to Naruto. "N-Naruto-kun…maybe she did walk off with a criminal…" She turned and faced him, handing him the accessory. "I…I learned that Akatsuki members wear black c-cloaks with red cloud patterns a-and…they each have rings of their own with…signs in the middle."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, examining the jade ring. "That can't be true…how do you know if it's Akatsuki's? Maybe…maybe Sakura-chan bought it and it just looks like it."

Hinata casted her pearl eyes to the side. "N-no…I'm very sure of it." Her eyes shifted back to the open drawer and lied upon what looked to be the corner of a book. She reached towards the object and pulled it out, revealing a light pink notebook with the words "Fighting Spirit" written on the middle of the cover.

"Fighting…spirit?" Naruto read.

"Sakura's diary," Hinata said. "Maybe we can find our answers here."

With that, Hinata opened the book, embarking on a journey to the past with Naruto.

* * *

October 13 

So bored.

So Ino-pig told me to get a diary because apparently I "have too much negativity bottled up inside." Also, I should "keep track of events" because I "have such bad memory." Whatever. I do not have bad memory. I just wanted to try out this diary thing that every girl my age seems to have.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day outside, but unfortunately I was stuck here at the hospital again, not that I minded too much. It was Autumn, and there was a gentle breeze blowing this way and that. The clouds blocked the sky, though, so it seemed just a tad gloomy. But I thought it was a nice break from the scorching summer.

"Sakura-san!" a voice chirped.

I looked up from my desk to see Konohamaru grinning before me, bearing much resemblance to Naruto. I narrowed my eyes, frustrated. "Konohamaru! What are you doing here?"

He bristled and folded his arms. "Sakura-san, let's play!"

I sighed. He had been bothering me a lot lately since his other two friends were grounded. "I have work to do, and keep your voice down; this is a hospital and the patients need to rest peacefully."

He pouted. "But I'm bored."

"Do I care?" I growled. "Now go! We'll play later!"

"You're mean!" he shouted, his boisterous voice echoing through the once quiet halls. Suddenly, he brought his hands together and formed the seals of an all too familiar jutsu. "Oiroke no jutsu!"

_POOF!_

Emerging from the fog was a nude woman, her private parts thankfully covered by the mist. I could hear the other medic-nins scream in shock and I could have sworn I saw an unconscious patient awaken only to faint again at the sight of the naked female Konohamaru.

"KO-NO-HA-MA-RUUUU!"

Konohamaru dashed off and I chased after him in fury, completely oblivious that I had fallen directly into his trap. I was unaware that we had already been miles away from the hospital. He rounded a corner and I copied him until –

_WHAM!_

I fell on all four. Squinting my eyes for a second before greeting the world again, I saw an attractive guy's face in front of mine. He looked to be an adult and had blond hair and cerulean eyes that glittered beautifully in the light. He wore a black t-shirt with a dark blue stripe in the middle outlined with a white stripe and a red cloud emblem in the center of the stripes. He had on faded jeans ripped a bit on the knee of one of the legs, giving him a rebel appearance. His dumbfounded expression made him more adorable than ever. It took me a couple of seconds later to realize that I had been rudely staring at him. Quickly, I got up off of him and straightened out my clothes. "S-Sorry, sir!"

"Ow…that hurt," he said, getting up as well. He chuckled. "Well, it's alright, yeah. It wasn't intentional."

I flashed him a smile. "Did you see where a short and extremely annoying boy ran off to?"

"Yeah, he went that way," he said, pointing behind him. "Is he your son, yeah?"

…

"M-My child!" I screamed. "He is _not_ my child! What the hell gave you that crazy idea!"

A woman passing by covered her child's ears, pushing him gently away from us. I could hear her mutter, "Young couple's quarrels nowadays are filled with such hatred and foul language."

I turned and glared at her. "We are_ not_ a couple!"

Looking around, I realized that I was causing a scene in the middle of the street and nearly everyone's eyes were fixed on me. For a moment we stood there as the center of attention until he took my hand and lead me away from the crowd. "Come on, honey. We'll discuss this issue at home."

It was good thing we were away form the bustling road, so I was free to break from his hold. I glared intensely. "What was that for!"

"Sorry, sorry," he said, grinning. "So what's your name, yeah?"

I folded my arms and turned my head to the side, "Why should I tell you?"

"Well, I'm kind of new here," he said.

Immediately I smiled and all my anger from before seemed to have faded away. He didn't know any better, so I shouldn't be mad. "Oh! You're new?"

"Yeah," he confirmed. "I just moved in recently, yeah."

"I'm Sakura!" I beamed. "Haruno, Sakura!"

"Sakura," he repeated. "That's a nice name."

"What about you?" I asked. "It's rude to not tell your name after I just told you mine."

"I don't have a last name like you. I refused to take on the family name ever since my father left my mother and I, yeah," he said with a weak smile.

"It's okay. Just your first name is fine," I told him.

He looked at me with a childish grin before answering:

"Deidara, yeah."

* * *

**Senko:** So, yes. This story has slightly changed – now it is told from Sakura's point of view. 

I'm sorry that it is short and I'm even more sorry to inform you that chapters will not be updated too quickly. I have two reasons. The first is that although I have this entire story planned out I still have to decide on how I want Sakura and Dei's relationship to be like. How will I make them begin to develop feelings? After that question is answered, I will be able to connect it to the planned chapters. The second is that I just moved and barely got internet. However, it seems that the internet can only connect to the computer in my idiot brother's room. They're working on fixing it, but yeah. My idiot brother is an uber computer freak and he's always hoggin the computer -.- so yeah.

If makes you readers feel any better, I have the entire story for "The Devil's Embrace" and "The Other Uchiha" written out! I just get kind of lazy to type o.O;;

Thank you very much for reading my story and please keep supporting ) your support means a ton to me. AND! If you want to, please answer the question in the above paragraph. Even though your idea might not be used, it will be of great help to me.


	3. Meeting

**Senko:** Hello everyone! Welcome to the third chapter of "The Devil's Embrace!"

**Note: **I was just wondering in case any of you read this story and go WTF Deidara seems OOC! Well...uhm...in my defense, I'm trying to make Deidara befriend Sakura and get close enough to find information on Naruto. Therefore, he can't be cold and mean, right? So ehm...yeah.

**Hamstergirl597**: OH! I didn't know that xD fixed it :D

Thanks to **Anime-freakazoid-101, Spread-My-Wingz-And-Soar, bluflamez, bLoodY vEngEfUl sOul, cherz, blackxheart, Tofu-Master, sillymail, Hao'sAnjul, kalista315, Lady Azura, pilar-ayesha, RubberDuckiesWhoLikePieAndC..., midnights-dawn, D.K.-Missy, Alory Shannon, arichan, rebel-girl, YinYang-Animal, mmmmmmmm, InuKeifer, shira-yuki, Auel Nader, Cloudwatchers, Ymue, TheFoxGirlKitsune, Delacie, Cherry Blossom Girl, Life's Little Problem, pureHEARTS09, kunoichikeiko13, Coeur Casse,** and **Rii.MAYORI** for reviewing!

* * *

**October 20**

A sighed escaped from my lips as I gently closed the door to my patient's room and stood in the hallway. There was one thing that had been bothering me lately...a thing called...

Boredom.

When I thought about it, at first it had been exciting. Of course it was sad that Sasuke had left the Leaf and I was very disappointed in myself for not being able to do anything about it because I was weak. Then I sought training from Tsunade-shishou and I was so overjoyed that I was becoming stonger and stronger with each passing day.

The days when I met with Tsunade-shishou every morning to learn from her are gone now since Tsunade-shishou deemed me capable of being an adequate medic-nin. Now I was to improve through helping out at the hospital and I'd meet only a few times a week with her.

I never realized until now how unexciting and boring my life would be. There was no more hyperactive blond to greet me every morning, no more fights between teammates, and no more time with Team Seven. Now, it would be the same routine everyday...wake up, eat, hospital, lunch, either hospital or studying scrolls at the libary, back home and eat.

Naruto had finally returned from his journey with Jiraiya and he, Kakashi-sensei, and I had to leave for the Sand to aid in rescuing the Kazekage. That moment when Naruto returned...I thought we would be like a team again and we would stick together, train together, and do missions together. Of course I was greatly disappointed in the end.

Kakashi-sensei wishes to train by himself and Naruto is still learning from Jiraiya. Me...I'm stuck with that same building with a plain white interior.

I realized I had been standing outside my patient's door for a while and turned around.

Deep, shimmery blue eyes.

I blinked.

I stopped for a moment before realizing who had just popped up out of the blue in front of me. He looked awfully familiar. Ah, I remember. It's Deidara. But there was something that caught my attention; I wondered how he was able to sneak up on me. Perhaps I was just too absorbed in my thoughts, yes.

"Sakura-chan!" he beamed.

"D-Deidara," I said in surprise. "Don't scare me like that!"

He backed away from me and straightened up, a smile adorning his pretty face. "Sorry, sorry. I saw you and couldn't help but to say something, yeah."

"How are you enjoying Konoha so far?" I asked.

He sighed. "It's so boring, yeah. It's also so calm, nothing good happens here, huh?"

I sent him a glare. "Konoha is not boring. We have lots of fun around here. It would be so loud and noisy and chaotic if...if..."

"If?" he drawled.

I exhaled, bringing myself to admit it. "If only Naruto was still here."

"Naruto? Is he your boyfriend?" he asked with an all too innocent face.

I growled before bursting out, "HE IS _NOT_ MY BOYFRIEND! WHAT IN THE WORLD MAKES YOU THINK THAT?"

A door opened and I could see a nurse's head pop up from behind the door. "Shh! We do have some patients trying to rest here!"

The door instantly closed after that and Deidara and I stood alone in the hallway. He frustrated me. Why was it that he, someone who seems and talks so innocent and friendly, say the right things to anger me. The first time we met, when I fell on him while chasing after Konohamaru, was a good example.

Flashback

_WHAM!_

_I fell on all four. Squinting my eyes for a second before greeting the world again, I saw an attractive guy's face in front of mine. He looked to be an adult and had blond hair and cerulean eyes that glittered beautifully in the light. He wore a black t-shirt with a dark blue stripe in the middle outlined with a white stripe and a red cloud emblem in the center of the stripes. He had on faded jeans ripped a bit on the knee of one of the legs, giving him a rebel appearance. His dumbfounded expression made him more adorable than ever. It took me a couple of seconds later to realize that I had been rudely staring at him. Quickly, I got up off of him and straightened out my clothes. "S-Sorry, sir!"_

"_Ow…that hurt," he said, getting up as well. He chuckled. "Well, it's alright, yeah. It wasn't intentional."_

_I flashed him a smile. "Did you see where a short and extremely annoying boy ran off to?"_

"_Yeah, he went that way," he said, pointing behind him. "Is he your son, yeah?"_

…

"_M-My child!" I screamed. "He is not my child! What the hell gave you that crazy idea!"_

_A woman passing by covered her child's ears, pushing him gently away from us. I could hear her mutter, "Young couple's quarrels nowadays are filled with such hatred and foul language."_

_I turned and glared at her. "We are not a couple!"_

_Looking around, I realized that I was causing a scene in the middle of the street and nearly everyone's eyes were fixed on me. For a moment we stood there as the center of attention until he took my hand and lead me away from the crowd. "Come on, honey. We'll discuss this issue at home."_

End Flashback

"Do you work here?" he asked.

My mind returned to reality. "Uh, yeah, sort of. I do volunteer work here as training."

"Training?" his blue eyes lit up. "Are you a shinobi, yeah?"

When he didn't say such dumb things, I supposed he could be a nice person to have a chat with. I smiled. "Yeah. I'm a medic-nin. I'm done for today. Say, have you eaten yet? Let's go out and eat, my treat."

"Oh! Like a date, yeah?" he said in excitement.

My fists clenched in irritation. "NO. It is _not_ a date."

As I walked through the hallways and out of the hospital, he followed beside me. He had such a carefree attitude, smiling and laughing at this and that. When we reached the main shopping center of Konoha, I turned and asked him where he would like to eat.

"Hmmm," he pondered for a second and looked around. Then he finally spotted it and pointed behind me. "There!"

I turned to where he had pointed. "Ichiraku?"

"Yeah," he beamed. "I've been there a few times since I got here and I really like the ramen they have, yeah."

We entered the stand and gave our orders. As the ramen was being prepared, we sat by each other and waited in silence until Deidara spoke.

"Hey, hey, Sakura-chan?" he turned to me.

I had barely realized he was calling me with the -chan suffix and glared at him. "_Don't_ call me that, ever."

"Call you what, Sakura-chan?" he asked with that oh so innocent light in his eyes.

"_THAT_," I growled.

"Oh, okay. I won't call you 'that,' Sakura-chan, yeah. Why would anyone call you 'that'? After all, you do have a name, Sakura-chan, yeah," he folded his arms, closed his eyes, and nodded his head as though he completely understood me. I could only intensify my glare at him.

I sighed at this absurdity. I must be professional and mature, yeah. Oh gosh, now his talking habit of the word "yeah" is rubbing off on me! Our orders finally arrived and I had barely begun to consume my food when Deidara stole my attention.

"Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan!" he gleamed.

I turned to him. "Hm?"

"This is just like a date, yeah," he said through his eating.

I choked on my food and gave off a few coughs.

"Eh...Sakura-chan? Are you okay?" he turned to me and asked.

"This is _NOTHING_ like a _DATE_!" I snapped.

He sighed. "You're right, yeah. I bet you've been on tons of them already so this is nothing like a date, yeah."

I stopped for a moment and stared down at my food. Haruno, Sakura...fifteen years of age and I had never even once been on a single date. "N-No...I've never been on a date before."

"Really?" his eyes looked at me widely in shock. "I had expected for you to be popular, yeah."

I gave off a nervous laughter. I wasn't popular at all. I wasn't beautiful like Ino, intelligent and strong like TenTen, or polite and completely adorable like Hinata. I could only dream that one day someone (other than Lee and preferably Sasuke-kun) would hold any interest in me.

"Sakura-chan, let's call this a date, yeah," he grinned.

"W-what? No way," I looked away from him and to the side. There was no way I would be going on my first date with someone other than Sasuke-kun! Or...I wonder had it been any other boy what would I have said...could it be...that I am only rejecting him because...my gaze returned to him.

"Why not, Sakura-chaaan?" Those similar sapphire eyes I'd known for years.

"It's just a date, yeah." That same shade of blond strands of hair I longed to see whenever he left and I had no one from Team 7 with me.

"It's not harm, right?" That same goofy grin that would irritate me because it would accompany a foolish statement.

"Oh, I'll be paying for her too, yeah." That same attitude that would annoy me yet at the same time...

"Are you done with your food, Sakura-chan?" ...take away the loneliness...

"Sakura-chan?" ...Naruto.

"Hello?"

I blinked. "H-huh? Deidara? What is it?"

"You've been staring at me for quite some time, yeah. I know I am just _that_ good looking but please have some control, yeah, Sakura-chan," he joked, causing my hand to form a fist. Of course, I restrained myself from harming him. Had he really been Naruto, though, I might have done something else.

When we finished eating, I was about to pay for the food when I discovered that Deidara had already paid for it. Odd, I didn't remember him doing that. Perhaps it happened when I was looking at him...I mean, when I was dozing off, yes. He had insisted on walking on me home even after I assured him I'd be alright. He argued that it was only correct for the guy to walk the girl home after a date. I reminded it again that it was _not_ a date...although it did feel like one.

"Have you made a lot of friends yet?" I asked him as we trotted along the path to my house.

He paused to think for a second before answering. "Sort of, yeah. I met this girl...uhm...Hinata, I think. She's very shy."

I let out a small laughter. "Yes, that's Hinata-chan."

"What about this Naruto person?" he asked.

I glanced at him before answering. I wondered why he would bring up Naruto right now. "What about him?"

"Is he really your boyfriend?"

"N-NO! I told you already!"

Deidara chuckled. "This Naruto person seems interesting, yeah. I wonder how it'd be like to meet him."

I hesitated before answering. It would be nice, wouldn't it? For him to meet Naruto. Even though Naruto is completely immature and stupid, I have to admit that he definitely has the ability to touch many lives. I wonder if Naruto would touch Deidara's life as well. "It's...too bad you can't meet him. It would be nice, though."

"Hm? I can't meet him? Why?" Deidara questioned. "Where is he?"

"He-" I stopped as I remembered what Kakashi-sensei had told me. He had said that Akatsuki was out for Naruto and since they fear leaving Naruto in the village too long for Konoha might be attacked, they had to keep Naruto occupied. He said I must never tell anyone where Naruto was. No one at all. "It's confidential."

"Ah, I see."

There was a silence as we walked on and it bothered me. I decided to do something to lighten up the mood. "HEY!"

He turned to look at me. "What?"

"Let's play a game!" I chirped. "Let's use words to describe each other. The person with the most words in the end wins."

"Sounds fun," he commented.

I pondered for a bit before I began. "Something about Deidara...friendly!"

He paused for a few seconds before answering me. "Short-tempered."

I sent him a glare. "...what."

He only chuckled. "Well, you're always growling or glaring or something, yeah."

I decided to forget it and continue the game. "And you're also...nice!"

"Loner."

I stopped in my tracks and glowered at him deadly. How could that idiot be so mean when I was simply trying to be kind? ARGH. He frustrates me so much! "WHAT."

He stopped too. "Well, you're a loner because you don't go on dates, yeah. You never went on one and you don't want to go on one with me. You're also odd, yeah, and doze off a lot and..."

He stopped to look at me before answering.

"Big forehead."

That was it.

Forgetting that he was new to Konoha and I must be kind to him, I had gathered up chakra into my fist and launched myself at him. Somehow, I had missed and punched a dent into a nearby pole. Then when I realized what I was doing, guilt consumed me for attempting to hurt him. But...then there was something else that I realized.

I turned around to see him behind me. "Y-you..."

"Huh?" he said, with that innocence on his face again.

Was it that I was getting too dull? No...the only way he could have dodged that would be..."Are you a shinobi?"

"Shinobi?" he laughed. "No, no. Of course not."

I looked back and forth between the dent and my fist. "B-But...but...then...I...how could you have dodged that? My shishou is very powerful and she's trained me very well."

"Ah...er, I had some basic lessons before," he answered.

"Basic...lessons?" I questioned.

"Y-yeah," he said, bringing his right hand up behind his head. "When I was young, I, er, enrolled into a ninja academy, yeah, but I dropped out."

"Oh..." that would make sense that he was able to dodge it because he had basic training. However, he was right there in front of me; he couldn't have moved so quickly to be able to evade that blow. Maybe I'm getting dull, that was it. Yes. I must train tomorrow and get back into shape.

"I think we should hurry to get you back home, yeah," he said, bringing out of my thoughts. "It's getting dark."

I looked around to see that it was indeed beginning to get dark. The sun was setting already and I noticed that I had been with Deidara for hours already. I guess it's true that time does fly when you're having fun. Er, of course it wasn't _that_ fun.

* * *

**October 27 **

"Sakura-chan!"

That voice caught my attention and I turned around to see Deidara running up to me. It had been a week since our "date" (or so Deidara calls it) and since then, Deidara would come every afternoon, around 2 or 3 pm, to fetch me from the hospital. Then we would walk to the main shopping center and eat somewhere. He'd always pay, though. I guess that's one thing that separated him from Naruto.

We had finished our food early today and walked around the streets of Konoha. I sighed.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," I answered. "Just...sometimes, when I think about it all my friends are off training or on missions. Then I think about me and how I'm stuck going to the hospital everyday. Shishou said to think of it as training, but I think I heal pretty well already. I used to be able to spar with my team before it was broken up. Now, everyone's progressing faster than me."

"Why don't you ask your shishou for training, yeah?" he suggested.

I exhaled and let my shoulders drop before answering. "She said I just need improvement for now since she's busy. But...I'm falling so far behind."

We continued to walk a bit more in silence before Deidara finally broke off the quietness. "I know! Why don't you train with me?"

I looked at him and narrowed my eyes. "Train? With you?"

"Yeah," he grinned. "I probably won't be the best but I might be able to be of some use. What do you think?"

I returned my gaze to the road, careful not to bump into anyone. "No...no offense, just...you only have basic ninja skills."

"Let's make a deal, Sakura-chan."

"A deal?"

"If you can corner me to where I'm trapped and can't do anything, then it's obvious I'm weaker than you, yeah. However...if I can survive a sparring session with you, then consider sparring with me, yeah?"

I sighed. "Alright then. We'll head to the nearest open field."

* * *

Deidara stood a good distance in front of me. I wondered if I was doing the wrong thing. After all, he only had basic training. What if I were to accidentally cause a big injury? Then again, it was his offer to have this first training session. I found it funny that if he were to be some sort of enemy that was befriending me, right now he'd be having the perfect opportunity to study my skills. But of course, Deidara is a kind person. He'd never be some sort of enemy. 

I decided to limit my chakra usage in order to prevent him from being seriously harmed.

Then I launched at him with my chakra focused into my fist. I caused a hole in the ground and smirked at having caught him, but when the sand and dust cleared I was shocked to find that I had missed. How could this be?

A shadow fell upon me from behind and I turned to see Deidara's figure standing above me. Anger rose in me knowing that I had missed to some person with only basic ninja training and I quickly kicked across where he stood in an attempt to trip him. He had jumped up and avoided my attack. When he landed, I dashed towards him and delivered punches and kicks to him...all of which he managed to dodge. It continued for a while until I had back him up against a tree and focused my chakra and punched a hole into the tree.

I was more shocked yet again to find that he had escaped that blow as well. My fist was still against the tree when I realized his left hand was stretching across my left side and it was gently placed against the same tree. I could feel his right hand reach into my holster, bring out a kunai and hold it against my throat.

"Dead," he whispered in my ear.

My breath quickened. How was this possible? Had I...really gotten this dull? No...it can't be.

He pulled away from behind me and I turned around to see him twirling my kunai with his index finger. He grinned. "You attack meaninglessly. I'm impressed with your chakra control and the damage you can do, yeah. If you had devised an intelligent plan to catch me, I think I might have lost."

I shifted my gaze from him, unable to look him directly in the eye. I was disappointed in myself. "Y-yeah...maybe..."

There was a part of me that questioned who this Deidara was. On the outside, he smiled and laughed like an innocent person. But the way he was able to evade my attacks and move so swiftly acted as a contradiction to that exterior facade he has.

Then again perhaps I was just thinking too much about this. It was just lack of training, yes...lack of training. If I keep training more and spar with him more, I'll be back in shape in no time!

* * *

**Senko: **Guess what...do you like this fanfic? If so... 

**Would you like to see a doujinshi version of "The Devil's Embrace"?**

Senko not only likes to write but also loves to draw :D yes, yes, and one day while I was working on my original manga, I thought of scenes from this fanfic. Then I sketched out a couple pages...and soon, I realized I had sketched out about 10 pages of doujinshi for this fanfic o.O; if you would like to see this in doujinshi form, tell me :D

One last note...I wasn't sure how to finish this story but when I started to sketch out the doujinshi...I had some great ideas pop up in my head :) I have the outline for this entire story laid out! Think it'll end sadly? Perhaps. Happily? Could be :P


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